Morocco - Safi

Africa
City
Beach
Author

Oliver Eaton

Published

June 20, 2023

Our whole purpose of visiting Morocco was to attend a wedding, Trav’s good friend from high school (Dylan) was marrying an Irish girl with Moroccan heritage (Miriam). But, before the wedding, we had a few days to kill. So we booked accommodation in a coastal town called Safi. We had no idea what to expect in Safi and didn’t bother doing much research. It was just a small town situated on the coast, so we locked it in.


The flight with Ryanair was uncomfortable. Not only did they charge us an extra 55 euros each for not having checked in online, the seats were tiny and stationed upright, there was no reclination. Sure, Ryanair is cheap, but, fuck, it is not an enjoyable experience. We landed at Marrakech airport in the morning, Trav and I were quite tired after having slept in Marseille airport, and immigration took forever. They asked intense questions and needed to know the precise details of our accommodation. Even though they were aware we only had two weeks in Morocco altogether.

After the drawn-out, slow process of moving through the airport, we managed to make it outside. Blasted by a 40-degree wave of heat, we sleepily trudged across the car park to the car rental area and leased a tiny two-door Fiat for three days. This was our whip to get us to Safi, a three-hour drive from Marrakech.

Potholes, like pockmarks on damaged skin, lined the road all the way to Safi. It was not a busy road. We took turns driving, whoever was passenger caught up on sleep. We passed through a few small towns, grabbing lunch at one. BBQ-style street stalls were everywhere, we ate sardine and lentil sandwiches which cost a couple dollars. Very cheap. It felt great being back in the exciting, vibrant, unpredictable Africa. Europe, particularly Western Europe, I found boring and sterile.

No hostels were in Safi, so we booked an Airbnb. It cost 20 euros a night, which is expensive for Morocco, but peanuts compared to Europe. It was a nice place, with washing machine, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom each and a colourful lounge for us to chill. A perfect place to lie low.


The best thing about Safi is the lack of tourists. It is an industrial town, with a large port and little-to-none touristic attractions. However, the beach was lovely. We spent most days on the beach sunbathing and reading our books. The water was slightly warm and was a great way to purge the heat laden in our bodies. It was pleasing to see locals at the beach enjoying the ocean. This is something I found interesting about Morocco, the locals actually swim and use the beach. Generally, swimming, surfing, and beach activities in other Arabic nations are not part of local culture. Perhaps this has to do with the ongoing colonisation of the country that happened throughout history by Portugal, Spain and most recently, France?

Being the only tourists in town, we seldom experienced touts pushing us to purchase things. Contrary to what other travellers described to us about Morocco, I felt unbothered walking through the old-town Medina. Maybe in larger, touristy cities, we will experience the annoying, insistent sales pitch?

One thing we needed to do whilst here was purchase Moroccan wedding garb. We dedicated one evening to searching, but like the classic, simple male, we found suitable attire in our first store for 600 dirams each (Trav has no negotiation skills). We also bought a large hand-painted Moroccan serving dish as a wedding gift and a smaller one for Mum & Dad.


Wrap up

After three days of reading, swimming, sipping strong espresso coffee and wandering like lost sheep in a foreign meadow, we packed the car and drove back to Marrakech. Safi was a perfect introduction to Morocco. The language is a mixture of Arabic and French, so I thought I could get by on the little amount of Arabic I learnt in Egypt & Jordan, although, it is completely different. We were near stranded communicating orally and used hand gestures most the time, I enjoy this primitive form of information transfer. How else did neighbouring tribes develop & work together throughout history?